New library Web sites win national award

Feb. 10, 2007

I don't mean to brag -- no, I'm not going to pull out pictures of my darling grandson, Tristan -- but I do want to point out that the Springfield-Greene County Library District's two new Web sites, The Informed Decision and Hot Topics, won the 2007 Thomson Gale Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Library Services. It's a prestigious award that comes with a $3,000 prize and citation to be presented at the American Library Association conference in June in Washington, D.C.

Both sites, available from the right sidebar at thelibrary.org, were created to meet the topical information needs of library patrons. The Informed Decision, subtitled "Your Guide to Springfield and Greene County's Most Talked About Issues," and Hot Topics, tagged with "Recommended Reading on Burning Issues," address local, national and international issues in similar formats.

"Both sites are intended to help our patrons keep up with current topics. Both sites answer the basic question, 'If you had to make a decision about whether or not you agreed or disagreed with an issue, what information would you need to know?'" said Donna Bacon, who manages reference services for the eight-branch library system.

"These days people are often overwhelmed with information. These sites organize information in a manageable and approachable way using data that is evaluated for accuracy, fairness and balance."

Currently at The Informed Decision site, you can view different points of view on cable competition, high school dropouts, biofuel and gangs. At Hot Topics, recent issues include stem-cell research, exit strategies for Iraq and North Korea and nuclear power.

"Our library reference staff chooses, researches and updates both these sites," explains Bacon. "We concentrate on Web sites and articles that are unbiased, balanced and provide different viewpoints. We often use information from associations or organizations that give factual information, and we link to articles from the library's collection of online resources. We limit the number of resources listed to 10 or 12 so as not to overwhelm the reader."

Both sites allow patrons to subscribe to receive e-mail alerts when a new topic is added or e-mail a friend a link to a certain topic. RSS feeds are also available.